Four Frequencies began as an attempt to attach color and visuals to how I see and associate the members of 5 Seconds of Summer. Each painting is an interpretation of a personal connection, how each member feels in color, how their sound moves through me. Rather than trying to paint who they are, I painted how they exist in my perception: as frequencies, emotions, and energy. For me, Calum Hood is teal, green. Ashton Irwin is red, maroon. Luke Hemmings is blue, white. Michael Clifford is yellow, pink. 

I started with cardboard cutout busts of the band members, a deliberate nod to the history of fandom imagery and memorabilia from fans. I painted them in oil, giving dimensionality to something usually mass-produced and disposable. Around and behind them, I layered abstract color fields using oil and spray paint across different materials, canvas, linen, and two kinds of tablecloth. Each surface carries its own texture, weight, and domestic history, shifting how the paintings hold space.

Color became language. Each hue and layer acts as a translation of tone, rhythm, and presence. Four Frequencies is both a map and a mirror. It’s about seeing sound, translating affection, and understanding how music can live through color, how devotion can take shape in paint.

-Meraki Gardner